Here’s a discussion that’s hitting the blogs this week: Former General Electric Co. Chief Executive Jack Welch had what some people are taking as pretty harsh words for women looking to take time off to care for kids or family, in his remarks for the Society for Human Resource Management at its annual conference. Via the Wall Street Journal, here’s the quote that’s got people talking:
“There’s no such thing as work-life balance,” Mr. Welch told the Society for Human Resource Management’s annual conference in New Orleans on June 28. “There are work-life choices, and you make them, and they have consequences.”
Mr. Welch said those who take time off for family could be passed over for promotions if “you’re not there in the clutch.”
Some of the response:
- “Perhaps if we stopped viewing these jobs as what we’re aspiring to reach, and begin seeing them as fool’s gold largely sought by folks with too narrow a conception of ambition, men and women who never reach the C suite would better count their blessings.” - Conor Friedersdorf at the Daily Dish
- “For many people though, they are willing to take that middle ground between workaholic and homemaker. There just has [sic] to be more opportunities to take that route.” - Laura at 11d. I particularly wanted to also note commenter stranger’s remark on that post: “Life-work balance, as an issue, becomes more important as you age, particularly if you have a family. College graduates, though, usually have no idea how miserable they will be in their mid- to late 30’s, if they choose the wrong career track.”
- “I regularly interview women for my show Give and Take who do have it all — they are mothers with high powered careers. These women are resolute, dedicated and supreme multi-taskers.” - Julie Menin at the Huffington Post
What’s my take? That it’s very individual and dependent on the industry and corporation involved - which is exactly why we need to share our stories, as women, of our ongoing reinventions through various stages of our life as we struggle to “have it all.” So don’t forget to comment or share your story in our View from her section.
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Pingback by Posts about Huffington Post as of July 22, 2009 » The Daily Parr — July 22, 2009 @ 12:00 pm
Kudos to Conor Friedersdorf for naming some of the travesties that go on in big business in the name of success!
I think he hits he nail right on the head when he says “folks who take conventional, highly codified steps toward success irrationally come to ascribe greater worth to those who follow the same path.”
And many of them go on, as he says to “lead miserable lives rife with lost friendships, dysfunctional relationships, divorces, alienated children, ludicrous attempts to use consumption as a stand in for actual happiness, etc.
I believe there’s something very wrong with this picture. It’s not just women who are being hurt by the ‘glass ceiling’ approach. This unbalanced approach taken to work is detremental to men also. Friedersdorf makes an excellent point when he says “Perhaps if we stopped viewing these jobs as what we’re aspiring to reach, and begin seeing them as fool’s gold largely sought by folks with too narrow a conception of ambition, men and women who never reach the C suite would better count their blessings.”
Let’s create an environment where our work isn’t killing us, spiritually, if not physically. An environment where parents work as a team to raise their kids in co-operation with their enlightened employers!
Ellen Besso
http://www.ellenbesso.com
Comment by Ellen Besso — July 27, 2009 @ 9:55 pm
I cannot believe that this can be true
Comment by nikolaus koln — June 20, 2010 @ 5:41 pm